Cold Light of Day
by Elizabeth Goddard
February 20 – March 17, 2023
Virtual Book Tour
Hi, everyone!
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for COLD LIGHT OF DAY (Missing in Alaska Book #1) by Elizabeth Goddard on this Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
Police Chief Autumn Long is fighting to keep her job in the quiet Alaska town of Shadow Gap when an unexpected string of criminal activity leaves her with a wounded officer, unexplained murders, and even an attack on her own father. Despite her mistrust of outsiders, she turns to Grier Brenner, a newcomer who seems to have the skills and training Autumn needs to face this threat to her community.
Grier is in Alaska for the same reason so many others are–to disappear–when Chief Long enlists his help. He emerges from the shadows and proves his mettle, but his presence in her life could be a deadly trap for them both. If his secret is exposed, all will be lost. And he’s not sure even Autumn could save him.
As the stakes rise and the dangers increase, Autumn and Grier must rely on each other to extinguish the deadly threats.
Cold Light Of Day
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Published by: Revell
Publication Date: February 2023
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780800742041 (ISBN10: 0800742044)
Series: Missing in Alaska, 1
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
COLD LIGHT OF DAY (Missing in Alaska Book #1) by Elizabeth Goddard is a fast-paced Christian romantic suspense and the first in a new series set in small town Alaska. Shadow Gap’s police chief and a mysterious newcomer are enveloped in a crime spree that could cost them everything.
Police Chief Autumn Long is trying to prove herself and keep her job after taking over after her father’s disability retirement, but a crime wave is enveloping their small town. When she witnesses a newcomer to town rescuing a woman from drowning, she wonders why he rejects the attention gained by his rescue.
Grier Brennan is trying to stay under the radar and to himself, but his background will not allow him to let a person drown and he gets tangled up in all the activity happening around the attractive police chief. As bullets fly and the body count grows, Grier reluctantly joins forces with Autumn to find the killer.
Autumn and Grier investigate the murders and discover their pasts have entangled them with the same enemies in this crime wave and could be the death of them both.
The action and investigation plot lines that tie Autumn and Grier together were exciting and fast paced throughout. The stakes continue to rise and kept me turning the pages. The Alaskan wilderness itself is integral to the intensity of the story and provides both beauty and danger. Autumn and Grier are strong characters and believable in their situations, but I had a harder time connecting them as a romantic couple, especially since Grier does not reveal his secret until much to late in the plot for me to believe Autumn could trust him romantically. It is a Christian romantic suspense, but I really did not feel romantic elements pulling these two together. The balance of this story is much more slanted to the suspense and police investigation than a romance. There are mentions of faith and prayer which I did not feel interfered with the flow of the story. I enjoyed this start to the Missing in Alaska series and would be interested in reading more.
Overall, a good start to the series with an exciting suspense plot.
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Excerpt
ONE
Southeast Alaska
August
Autumn Long had no plans to give up without a fight,
even though it might be killing her a little every day. As the bush plane sank lower, her view of the gla cier spilling into the valley behind a forest exploding with reds, oranges, and browns fell away. Lofty mountains on each side of the fjord filled her vision.
“Hold on, Chief. We’re almost there.” Pilot Carrie James flew her bush plane straight up the Lynn Canal—one of the longest, deepest fjords in the world. The snowcapped Kaku han Mountains rose lofty on the right, the Chilkat Range near Haines to the left. And across from Haines to the west—Glacier Bay National Park.
Autumn ignored the mounting dread she felt and focused her thoughts. She had better get her act together and earn back the trust of the city council and the people she swore to protect in the small town of Shadow Gap, one of many communities dotting the Inside Passage of the Alaska Panhandle.
She’d stayed overnight in Anchorage for a meeting that left her drained to her bones. She’d taken an Alaska Airlines flight to and from Juneau, and now Carrie was delivering her up to the northernmost part of the Panhandle. Wearing her brown bomber jacket and a headset, sitting in the cockpit of her Helio Courier—the ultimate bush plane—Carrie was a bush pilot poster child.
The plane flew lower, following the Chilkoot Inlet until Carrie banked east, flying over the Lewis Inlet that branched off. “That’s why I’d better say this before I lose the chance.” Autumn wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it.
Carrie angled her head toward Autumn and arched a brow. “I know you didn’t ask for my opinion.” Carrie looked forward again. “But you didn’t do anything wrong. Out here we take care of our own. The land is harsh. Brutal in ways the lower forty-eight can’t imagine. We have to watch out for each other, and that’s all you’ve ever done for the people of Shadow Gap.”
“Yeah, well . . . thanks, Carrie.” Tell that to Wally. He’d had it out for her from the first day she took her position as police chief.
Carrie waved a hand in mock incredulity. “Shadow Gap isn’t even classified as a town, much less an organized borough, so who needs a city council anyway?”
Or a police department, some might say.
Autumn cracked a smile. “Glad to know at least some people still want me around.”
Despite the many limitations of a small-town budget, they’d at least equipped their chief and three officers with loaded Ford Police Interceptor SUVs. After all, her officers were trained to carefully collect and preserve evidence as well as to tend a wounded moose in the road. They had to know how to do it all in small-town Alaska. Because, yeah, she thought of Shadow Gap’s community of 1,252 people as a town. Shadow Gap was just outside of the Haines and Skagway Boroughs. Alaska didn’t have counties, so there were no sheriffs.
Best of all—or worst of all, depending on which side of the law you were on—Shadow Gap had lost their Alaska State Trooper. Not enough crime to support one or budget to afford one if there was enough crime.
Autumn had nothing to complain about, except the results of her trip to Anchorage left a—
“What’s that?” Carrie drew Autumn’s attention to the water. “Someone’s out there, floating in Lewis Inlet. I saw hands wav ing, signaling.”
“Have you got—”
“Here.” Carrie handed off binoculars.
“Fly in close, Carrie. I want to get a better look. We have to help if we can.” Autumn peered through the binoculars and struggled to find what she was looking for, instead only captur ing the deep, dark waters. Then . . . “I see the hands. But, oh no, whoever is out there is going under.”
“But look! Someone’s swimming out to them. So maybe there’s a chance.”
“They won’t last long. Those waters are cold.” Autumn adjusted the binoculars, searching, searching . . . there. “I see what looks like the rescue swimmer.” Was that . . . Grier? “How close can you land?”
“Close enough. Once on the water, I can angle in closer.” “If he can get to the woman, we’ll take them both the rest of the way to get help.”
Because there was no way the woman wasn’t going to suffer from hypothermia in these temps, unless she had on the ap propriate attire. Same for Grier.
Come on, Grier . . . save the girl.
Shadow Gap needed a hero. A ray of hope shot through her, and though maybe she shouldn’t have the thought, it popped into her head all the same. She didn’t mind that a town hero would take the attention away from the police chief’s long list of transgressions.
Though, if she were choosing heroes, she would have chosen a longtime resident over an outsider—or as the locals liked to call them, cheechakos, and meant in a negative way. She wouldn’t go so far as to use that term for this particular man. Grier had shown up in Shadow Gap a few months ago to fish in the Shadow Gap Salmon Derby. A tourist who decided to stay. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last.
Autumn dropped the binoculars as Carrie skillfully landed the plane on the water. The pontoons smoothly connected, and Carrie guided the plane, heading toward where they’d last seen the woman in need of a rescue.
Her struggle could well be over.
Please don’t drown . . . don’t die. But Autumn didn’t see her anywhere. A fist squeezed her heart.
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Author Bio
Elizabeth Goddard is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 novels, including Cold Light of Day and the Rocky Mountain Courage and Uncommon Justice series. Her books have sold nearly 1.5 million copies. She is a Carol Award and Reader’s Choice Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, traveling to find inspiration for her next book, and serving with her husband in ministry. For more information about her books, visit her website at www.ElizabethGoddard.com.
Social Media Links
ElizabethGoddard.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @ElizabethGoddard
Instagram – @elizabethgoddardauthor
Twitter – @bethgoddard
Facebook – @ElizabethGoddardAuthor
Purchase Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Baker Book House
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KINGSUMO GIVEAWAY
https://kingsumo.com/g/7dgvg8/cold-light-of-day-by-elizabeth-goddard
